By Palash Kumar SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh was to end his two-day peace roundtable in Kashmir on
Thursday, a day after appealing to militants to come home and
telling his own troops to be more humane.

By Guy Faulconbridge and Jeff Mason SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin
meets EU officials on Thursday for talks expected to focus on
Western concerns about energy security and Russian democracy,
setting the tone for a Group of Eight meeting this summer.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and seriously wounded a
senior Iraqi Defense Ministry official and his driver on
Thursday, police sources said. The attack on General Khalil al-Ibadi outside his home in
southwestern Baghdad appeared to be part of a campaign
targeting senior government officials.

By Lirio da Fonseca DILI (Reuters) - Australian commandos were sent to East
Timor on Thursday to secure the capital's airport ahead of the
deployment of 1,300 troops to help restore law and order in the
tiny nation.

LONDON (Reuters) - Bad weather forced British coastguards
to call off a rescue operation on Thursday after an Irish
fishing vessel sank off the southwest coast, killing one crew
member and leaving two missing feared dead.

By Palash Kumar SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh began the last of two days of peace talks in Kashmir on
Thursday, a day after appealing to militants to come home and
telling his own troops to be more humane.

By Robert Birsel KABUL (Reuters) - Hunger could haunt millions of Afghans in
coming months, with serious implications for security, unless
donor countries provide help, the World Food Programme (WFP)
said on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Bad weather forced British coastguards
to call off a rescue operation on Thursday after an Irish
fishing vessel sank off the southwest coast, killing one crew
member and leaving two missing feared dead.